Saturday letters

Published: Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, October 4, 2013 at 11:34 a.m.

Support our schools

My wife and I retired to Sarasota a little over two years ago. I always take a special interest in the Herald-Tribune articles that deal with the area school systems. If you look around Florida you will see that only a small percentage of the school districts are of high quality, one of which is Sarasota County's. There is no consistent funding from the state for our schools.

To keep quality in our schools, it takes money and top-notch staff. It is time for the school district to ask for a renewal of the voter-approved millage. I think the school district is doing more with less right now.

I want to reference the Oct. 2 article that dealt with a foe of this levy. To me, it looks like Mr. Walt Augustinowicz is shooting from the hip with no basis for many of his statements. And then he wants to approach the Republican Party about supporting his stand in trying to defeat this levy.

I think members of both political parties are intelligent folks who will weigh the issues and form their own reasonable conclusions. Attempting to politicize our great school district is bad for business, bad for the district and bad for the kids. Keep the politics out of education and support the levy so we can continue on the pathway to excellence.

Jim Ingham

Sarasota

Blame gerrymandering

Most of us in both political parties are appalled and frightened by the threat to our democracy of the few extreme ideologues who are willing to close down the government to achieve their particular political ends. However correct their cause might be, by abandoning the only workable principles of any and all democracies, i.e., majority rule and willingness to compromise, they sow seeds not only of rancor and stalemate but the hostage-taking seeds of the "tyranny of the few," the very tyranny our forefathers fought so hard to escape.

But the roots of this scourge, my fellow Floridians, lies squarely with us and other voters who allow state legislatures to gerrymander districts so "safe" seat holders of either party can represent not all voters, but rather their most extreme partisans without fear of losing the next election. As an example, Florida, with more Democratic voters but proportionately more Republican legislators, overwhelmingly passed an amendment to stop the gerrymandering that caused the imbalance and set fair, even districts -- only to have our leaders in Tallahassee finesse the results so completely that the electoral map is virtually unchanged. The fruits of their labor are now clear for all to see.

Like Pogo crossing the Delaware: "We has met the enemy and he is us."

Stephen G. Prichard

Venice

Obama and Iran

Only in Barack Obama's America do we have the press and his party fawning over his ability to "negotiate" with Hitler. Iran has supported the terrorist regime in Syria forever and that does not count their support of other terrorist groups in the Mideast. This action is not diplomacy; this action is anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-Christian.

David Cohen

Myakka City

The Second Amendment

I often read and hear dialogue from folks who simply don't like guns, which they always associate with violence and reference many "facts" to make their point. One is to quote the Second Amendment. They will quote: "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state," and stop there and try to make their strong point, about it never meaning anything but armed forces, an army of various stripes to protect us. Period.

They conveniently leave out the rest of the Second Amendment, which says: (continuing) "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." I'm a simple person, and those few words tell me "The People" are all of us, you and I, the citizenry of this great country. And when you factor out the criminal element, and sadly those that have mental issues, and leave the rest of us, we are very, very benign indeed.

When considering the 300 to 400 million guns owned in this country and, again, just reference the honest, law-abiding citizens who take the Constitution and that amendment very seriously, we are a very peace-loving and peaceful community, unlike so many violent countries around the world.

Dialogue on this gun issue is good. Let's make it an honest one.

Al E. Bavry

Sarasota

The real NRA

Every time another mass shooting occurs, the defenders of the National Rifle Association come out in force to defend this organization as a salt-of-the-earth, all-American organization whose only goal is to protect the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The NRA, heavily financed by the gun and ammo makers, is in the business of getting as many guns as possible in the hands of as many Americans as possible. And how do they do this?

1. By opposing restrictions on gun ownership however sensible;

2. Whenever a shooting occurs, their answer is always that more guns on the streets would have prevented the shooting;

3. Using their power and influence to intimidate lawmakers, using their money to finance election campaigns of those who support them, and going so far as to spend money to finance recalls of elected officials who advocate gun control (such as what happened in Colorado).

How is it that Republicans -- who keep trying to repeal Obama-care based on the premise that their constituents are against it -- are staunchly against comprehensive gun-purchase background checks, even though over 80 percent of Americans are for them?

<p>Support our schools</p><p>My wife and I retired to Sarasota a little over two years ago. I always take a special interest in the Herald-Tribune articles that deal with the area school systems. If you look around Florida you will see that only a small percentage of the school districts are of high quality, one of which is Sarasota County's. There is no consistent funding from the state for our schools.</p><p>To keep quality in our schools, it takes money and top-notch staff. It is time for the school district to ask for a renewal of the voter-approved millage. I think the school district is doing more with less right now.</p><p>I want to reference the Oct. 2 article that dealt with a foe of this levy. To me, it looks like Mr. Walt Augustinowicz is shooting from the hip with no basis for many of his statements. And then he wants to approach the Republican Party about supporting his stand in trying to defeat this levy.</p><p>I think members of both political parties are intelligent folks who will weigh the issues and form their own reasonable conclusions. Attempting to politicize our great school district is bad for business, bad for the district and bad for the kids. Keep the politics out of education and support the levy so we can continue on the pathway to excellence.</p><p>Jim Ingham</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Blame gerrymandering</p><p>Most of us in both political parties are appalled and frightened by the threat to our democracy of the few extreme ideologues who are willing to close down the government to achieve their particular political ends. However correct their cause might be, by abandoning the only workable principles of any and all democracies, i.e., majority rule and willingness to compromise, they sow seeds not only of rancor and stalemate but the hostage-taking seeds of the "tyranny of the few," the very tyranny our forefathers fought so hard to escape.</p><p>But the roots of this scourge, my fellow Floridians, lies squarely with us and other voters who allow state legislatures to gerrymander districts so "safe" seat holders of either party can represent not all voters, but rather their most extreme partisans without fear of losing the next election. As an example, Florida, with more Democratic voters but proportionately more Republican legislators, overwhelmingly passed an amendment to stop the gerrymandering that caused the imbalance and set fair, even districts -- only to have our leaders in Tallahassee finesse the results so completely that the electoral map is virtually unchanged. The fruits of their labor are now clear for all to see.</p><p>Like Pogo crossing the Delaware: "We has met the enemy and he is us."</p><p>Stephen G. Prichard</p><p>Venice</p><p>Obama and Iran</p><p>Only in Barack Obama's America do we have the press and his party fawning over his ability to "negotiate" with Hitler. Iran has supported the terrorist regime in Syria forever and that does not count their support of other terrorist groups in the Mideast. This action is not diplomacy; this action is anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-Christian.</p><p>David Cohen</p><p>Myakka City</p><p>The Second Amendment</p><p>I often read and hear dialogue from folks who simply don't like guns, which they always associate with violence and reference many "facts" to make their point. One is to quote the Second Amendment. They will quote: "A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free state," and stop there and try to make their strong point, about it never meaning anything but armed forces, an army of various stripes to protect us. Period.</p><p>They conveniently leave out the rest of the Second Amendment, which says: (continuing) "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." I'm a simple person, and those few words tell me "The People" are all of us, you and I, the citizenry of this great country. And when you factor out the criminal element, and sadly those that have mental issues, and leave the rest of us, we are very, very benign indeed.</p><p>When considering the 300 to 400 million guns owned in this country and, again, just reference the honest, law-abiding citizens who take the Constitution and that amendment very seriously, we are a very peace-loving and peaceful community, unlike so many violent countries around the world.</p><p>Dialogue on this gun issue is good. Let's make it an honest one.</p><p>Al E. Bavry</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>The real NRA</p><p>Every time another mass shooting occurs, the defenders of the National Rifle Association come out in force to defend this organization as a salt-of-the-earth, all-American organization whose only goal is to protect the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution.</p><p>Nothing could be further from the truth. The NRA, heavily financed by the gun and ammo makers, is in the business of getting as many guns as possible in the hands of as many Americans as possible. And how do they do this?</p><p>1. By opposing restrictions on gun ownership however sensible;</p><p>2. Whenever a shooting occurs, their answer is always that more guns on the streets would have prevented the shooting;</p><p>3. Using their power and influence to intimidate lawmakers, using their money to finance election campaigns of those who support them, and going so far as to spend money to finance recalls of elected officials who advocate gun control (such as what happened in Colorado).</p><p>How is it that Republicans -- who keep trying to repeal Obama-care based on the premise that their constituents are against it -- are staunchly against comprehensive gun-purchase background checks, even though over 80 percent of Americans are for them?</p><p>The answer is three letters: NRA.</p><p>Felton Marans</p><p>Lakewood Ranch</p>